Democrats skeptical after Christie-backed report released on GWB investigation

Mar. 28, 2014

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Associated Press

Attorney Randy Mastro arrives at a news conference, in New York, Thursday, March 27, 2014. A law firm hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday that the governor was not involved in a plot to create gridlock near a major bridge as part of a political retribution scheme. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) / AP

Attorney Randy Mastro answers questions at a news conference, in New York, Thursday, March 27, 2014. A law firm hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday that the governor was not involved in a plot to create gridlock near a major bridge as part of a political retribution scheme. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) / AP

Attorney Randy Mastro answers questions at a news conference, in New York, Thursday, March 27, 2014. A law firm hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday that the governor was not involved in a plot to create gridlock near a major bridge as part of a political retribution scheme. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) / AP

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TRENTON – NEW YORK – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did not know of a top aide’s plan for a politically motivated traffic jam last year on the George Washington Bridge, according to lawyers hired by the Christie administration to investigate the “Bridgegate” scandal.

But the findings were met with deep skepticism by Democrats in the legislature who are also investigating the case.

“It reads more like a novel than a work of fact,” said state Assemblyman John WIsniewski, chairman of the legislative panel also investigating the bridge lane closings. “It’s very difficult to tell the truth when you don’t hear from all sides.”

The internal review, released Thursday, included interviews with Christie and his staff and examination of e-mails and cellphone records. But the investigation did not include interviews with the three people at the center of the scandal: Christie aide Bridget Kelly, who wrote an e-mail saying: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee”; Bill Stepien, campaign manager for Christie’s successful re-election last year; and David Wildstein, a Christie high school classmate whom the governor appointed to a job at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority controls the George Washington Bridge.

All three have cited their Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to answer questions from investigators.

“Our findings today are a vindication of Gov. Christie,” lawyer Randy Mastro, who headed the investigation, said at Thursday’s news conference.

Christie “did not know of the lane realignment beforehand and had no invovement in the decision to realign lanes,” the report says. “Gov. Christie’s account of these events rings true.” The investigators concluded that Christie “has conducted himself at every turn as someone who has nothing to hide.” When the e-mail from Kelly was made public in January, the report says, Christie expressed “shock” and was “welling up with tears.”

The investigative team interviewed Christie and his staff and had access to their personal texts and e-mails. “We uncovered nothing contradicting the governor’s account,” the report says.

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Federal prosecutors and a New Jersey legislative panel are also investigating the lane closures. Wisniewski, the leader of the legislative investigation, called the report “incomplete.”

“Lawyers hired by and paid by the Christie administration itself to investigate the governor’s office who then say the governor and most of his office did nothing wrong will not be the final word on this matter,” Wisniewski said. “The idea that Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein by themselves concocted the lane closure is, frankly, hard to believe.”

Wisniewski is a Democrat; Christie is a Republican and has been considered a contender for the 2016 Republican nomination.

The report says that only Kelly and Wildstein knew of the plan to close the bridge lanes. Stepien and Bill Baroni, deputy executive director of the Port Authority who has since resigned, also knew of the lane closing in advance but didn’t know of any reason for the lane closing other than a fictional traffic study. Although the report cites Wildstein saying he mentioned the traffic jam to Christie during a Sept. 11 commemoration, Christie told investigators he did not recall the conversation.

Christie also told investigators he “did not recall” ever talking to Kelly about the bridge lane closings, Mastro said.

The report says evidence does not support that the traffic jam was due to the Fort Lee mayor not endorsing Christie’s re-election; “What motivated this act is not yet clear,” Mastro said.

The report also called “demonstrably false” Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s claim that the Christie administration tried to force her into approving a stalled real estate project in order to receive recovery funds for damage from Superstorm Sandy.

Wisniewski called into question the objectivity of Mastro’s law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, saying it has done previous work for Christie’s office and that one of the lawyers involved in the investigation is a friend of the governor. Mastro was a deputy to New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been a staunch defender of Christie since the scandal broke.

Christie apologized to New Jersey residents in a Jan. 9 press conference and said he knew nothing of the traffic jam plan.